Writers and readers on all levels rely on dictionaries to aide with diction and comprehension. Dictionaries, most commonly regarded as reference materials and instructional tools, are commonplace in households, schools, and libraries. Not many people these days think of dictionaries as literature or cultural centerpieces. However, the dictionary from which most modern dictionaries are derived enjoys great cultural significance. Poet and essayist Samuel Johnson published A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755 after eight years of selecting words, drafting definitions, and choosing illustrative quotes. By understanding Johnson, his intentions for this massive work, and the work itself, one can come to understand why Johnson's Dictionary is still important over 250 years after its release.
Samuel Johnson was born September 18, 1709, to modest means. For a period, Johnson's father was a sheriff and the family was able to live in "a solid new fifteen-room house in the middle of the city" (Hitchings 10). Johnson was sick as a child. He was blind in one eye, partially deaf, and by eight years old, exhibiting signs of what is known today as Tourette's syndrome (Hitchings 12; Hitchings 14). His father made books, which gave Johnson a means to escape. He spent some time at Oxford, but "withdrew from student life because his father […] was dying" (Hitchings 26).
Despite his meager formal education and modest upbringing, as a poet and essayist, Johnson made vital contributions to the literary canon. Johnson often wrote on such themes as "moral strength and health; the importance of applying reason to experience; the test of virtue by what we do, not what we say or "feel"; [and] faith in God" (Greenblatt 2665). In the eight years it took Johnson to produce the Dictionary, he also wrote one of his most well-known poems, "The Vanity of Human Wishes" (1749). He also wrote the Rambler (1750-52) essays, "which established his reputation as a stylist and moralist" (Greenblatt 2664).
He offered literary criticism that some say "ranks among the best in English" (Greenblatt 2664). In 1765, he produced a volume on Shakespeare, and the Lives of the Poets was released in two parts in 1779 and 1781 (Greenblatt 2665). Aside from his Dictionary, Johnson contributed criticism that "engages some of the deepest questions about literature" (Greenblatt 2666). Since during the eighteenth century, "works of reference became both fashionable and necessary" (Hitchings 50), it seems natural for a man of such acclaim to take on the endeavor.
Before Johnson's Dictionary, though there had been other English dictionaries, none came from Britain that matched the caliber of those produced by other nations. Therefore, a dictionary was "a matter of both national prestige and philological necessity" (Hitchings 55). There had been many plans for a dictionary on the desired scale, but none came to fruition. At the urging of Robert Dodsley, Johnson agreed to start on his Dictionary and in 1746, he wrote a "Short Scheme for Compiling a Dictionary of the English Language" to prove to Dodsley that "he was the right man for the job" (Hitchings 57).
A year after drafting his initial plan for Dodsley, Johnson wrote his Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language in the form of a letter to the Earl of Chesterfield. In the Plan, Johnson insists that he only expected to be paid for the work he did. He "had no expectation of any higher patronage than that of the proprietors of the copy" (The Plan of an English Dictionary). He admits that he is uncomfortable with the attention he received as a result of agreeing to write the Dictionary. "This unexpected distinction," he writes, "Its first effect has been to make me anxious, lest it should fix the attention of the publick [sic] too much upon me" (The Plan of an English Dictionary). Johnson feared that his work would not be able to live up to the expectations of the waiting public and offered his Plan "not, therefore, to raise expectation, but to repress it" (The Plan of an English Dictionary). Johnson proceeds to explain that "it is not enough that a dictionary delights the critick [sic], unless, at the same time, it instructs the learner" (The Plan of an English Dictionary), before going forth and offering some of his word choices. According to his Plan, Johnson's "chief intent" was to create a dictionary that would "preserve the purity, and ascertain the meaning of our English idiom."
Once completed in 1755, Johnson's preface reflected Johnson's feelings about the magnitude of his work and the success of his efforts. He dedicated the finished product to "the honor of [his] country" (“From A Dictionary of the English Language”). Johnson posits that his Dictionary "may repress the triumph of malignant criticism to observe, that if our language is not here fully displayed, I have failed in an attempt which no human powers have hitherto completed" (“From A Dictionary of the English Language”). Hitchings posits, "Johnson sounds as impressive when explaining his omissions as he does when recording his achievements" (205). This shows that while he is apprehensive about the Dictionary's reception, he is proud of his own achievement and confident in his work.
In the preface to his Dictionary, Johnson shows that he "understand the importance of descriptive lexicography" (Hitchings 204). Johnson admits that his Dictionary is not exhaustive: "no dictionary of a living tongue ever can be perfect, since while it is hastening to publication, some words are budding, and some falling away" (“From A Dictionary of the English Language”). While seeming to apologize for some parts of the work, Johnson is also very committed to it. "I have protracted my work," Johnson writes, "till most of whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave" (“From A Dictionary of the English Language”). His wife having died in 1752, Johnson had only his Dictionary. As the Preface draws to a close, it becomes "elegiac and deeply personal" (Hitchings 206). "I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquility, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise" (“From A Dictionary of the English Language”). Regardless of the reception, Johnson was content with his work, flaws and all.
As flawed as it may be, Johnson's Dictionary proved to be an important piece of literature and political commentary, though "many of Johnson's opinions […] do not betray any large-scale passions or commitments" (Hitchings 151). Many of Johnson's definitions include pieces of Johnson's personal politics, be it directly or indirectly. For example, Johnson defines Tory as "one who adheres to the ancient constitution of the state, and the apostolical hierarchy of the church of England." Conversely, he defines Whig as "the name of a faction." By giving these opposing political terms difference attention, Johnson could have been saying "true English politics and true English religion are Tory" (DeMaria 64). It is also noted that all "'rebel' party pieces are excluded from the Dictionary" (DeMaria 64).
Other social positioning can be found in the definition for other words such as oats, "a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." This shows both Johnson's nationalism and his perceived status. Moreover, Johnson's definitions show a great deal of sarcasm and wit as can be seen in his definition for lexicographer: "a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the signification of words."
The sources of Johnson’s illustrative quotes also show some biases. Much of the quotations came from "poetry and prose written mostly by famous authors between 1580 and 1740" (DeMaria 65). However, Johnson quotes heavily from Jonathan Swift and mirrors his religious conservatism (DeMaria 65). Johnson was also greatly influenced by Sir William Temple's writing as "most of the quotations come from 'An Essay upon the Original Nature of Government'(1672)" (DeMaria 65). Similarly, he included "Shakespearean references to the divinity of kings" and found inspiration in the politics of John Locke (DeMaria 65).
The longevity of Johnson's Dictionary is due in part to the politics found therein. The Dictionary stands as a cultural publication because of Johnson's “inclusion of a broad but not unrestricted range of English, and […] a correspondingly broad range of political opinions" (DeMaria 71-72). Whereas dictionaries tend to be written as objective and detached collections of words, Johnson "established the […] traditions of factious and political lexicography" (Adams 11). Moreover, Johnson was "the first to take a leading role in language criticism" (Adams 13), meaning that his main bias was to the "improvement of [his] native tongue" as he stated in his Plan.
Johnson's Dictionary stands out among its predecessors and competitors because Johnson was the first to "assert the cultural authority of the dictionary definitions" (Adams 10). Johnson helped establish the dictionary as a source of cultural dominance (DeMaria 71). Johnson's Dictionary "clearly aspired to literary distinction […] beyond the classroom" (Adams 10-11). Johnson set out to create something that could be read as well as used.
Dictionaries "compete […] with on another partly on the basis of […] how they fit into paradigms Johnson established in 1755" (Adams 13). Much of what we see in dictionaries today, comes from what Johnson accomplished with A Dictionary of the English Language. The Dictionary has survived more than 250 years because of Johnson's prowess as a writer. With the successful completion of his Plan, Johnson created a cultural text that "invited the reader's intervention and judgment" (Adams 12). Perhaps the most significant reason the Dictionary has survived is because it "serves the purposes of general education, and the most important knowledge it conveys is general truth" (DeMaria 72).
Works Cited
Adams, Michael. “What Samuel Johnson really did: He made dictionaries matter.” Humanities. 30:5 (2009). 30 November 2009. Web.
DeMaria, Jr., Robert. "The Politics of Johnson's Dictionary." PMLA. 104:1 (1989). 64-74. 30 November 2009. Web.
Greenblatt, Stephen, et al., eds."Samuel Johnson 1709-1784." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed. Vol C. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. 2664-2666. Print.
Hitchings, Henry. Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary. Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, 2005. Print.
Johnson, Samuel. "From A Dictionary of the English Language." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Eds Stephen Greenblatt, et al. 8th ed. Vol C. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. 2750-2755. Print.
Johnson, Samuel. The Plan of an English Dictionary. Ed. Jack Lynch. Web. 01 Nov 2009.
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